KEA President declares September Public Pension Awareness Month by Stephanie Winkler, President of KEA
KEA’s mission statement reads: We unite, organize, and empower members to advocate for themselves and to ensure a quality public education for every Kentucky student. I take this statement very seriously. That’s why I decided to declare September as the month we need to unite, organize, and empower the members of KEA to take action to inform their colleagues and communities about who’s behind the faces of defined benefit pensions in the Commonwealth. Throughout the month in my weekly communication, President’s Points, there will be a pension news section dedicated to getting out timely pension alerts to all members. Each week starting in September, you may see videos on various social media outlets of folks you know, educating others about the state of pensions in Kentucky. At right is a suggested calendar of events to encourage member activism throughout the month. Get creative, spread the word, and ask others to join us. We must be the change we wish to see and that means fighting
for the rights of all public school employees so that students in Kentucky have the strongest work force at their disposal for many years to come.
Our students’ futures depend on it. So let’s get to work, together!
Here’s what new educators are saying about the fight to save our pensions “I’m hoping our lawmakers don’t let Kentucky’s educators and other public employees down. A pension is more than a promise. It should be a guarantee.” -Denise Gray, Paraeducator Crawford Middle School, Fayette County
“I pay 13% of my already small
paycheck into KTRS, but I do not know if that money will be there when it is my turn to leave the classroom. It’s scary.”
-Jacqueline Horsman,4th-year teacher, Conkwright Elementary, Clark County
“Teacher pensions are under attack across the nation. Stand up for your pension now, or it may not be there when you need it.” -Skylar Nunley, Elementary Educaton major, Murray State; KEA SP president
“Kentucky teachers have always known they could count on a secure retirement. Now they want to take that away from us. Who will fight for our pensions if we don’t?”
-Jeff Eddy, intern teacher, Elkhorn Elementary, Franklin County
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Are you missing out on resources for your classroom? These members are not, thanks to the NEA Foundation Among the most valuable benefits of your KEA membership is access to the many resources and programs offered to members only by the NEA Foundation, which supports new ideas and practices to strengthen teaching and learning. Since 2001 the Foundation has given nearly 4,500 grants totaling more than $7 million to public school educators who are members of NEA. Any NEA member who is a practicing U.S. teacher, counselor, or education support professional employed by a public school, including public higher education institutions, is eligible to apply. The Foundation typically awards 150 to 170 Student Achievement Grants and Learning & Leadership Grants each year, “to fund and share successful strategies to educate and prepare students for bright and rewarding futures.”
subject area(s). The proposed work should engage students in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen their knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. KEA members Michelle Venable and Jennifer Bowles, who teach at Livingston Central High School and Livingston County Middle School, received a $5,000 Student Achievement Grant to transition Venable’s
Learning & Leadership Grants
Learning & Leadership Grants support NEA members for one of the following two purposes: Educational grants to individuals to fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research, or; grants to fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. KEA member Joseph Moneymaker, who teaches at South Livingston Elementary School, was awarded a $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant this year, which will pay for him to participate in an intensive, hands-on training at the Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Institute in Virginia. This training is meant to help teachers develop meaningful and engaging plans for lessons in U.S. history, and gain the knowledge and skills necessary to become valuable professional learning resources for their schools and districts.
Student Achievement Grants
The NEA Foundation provides NEA members with grants to improve the academic achievement of students in U.S. public schools and public higher education institutions in any
Becky Cunningham (right) teaches at Elkhorn MIddle School in Franklin County. Carolyn Lynch is the school librarian. The NEA Foundation gave the two KEA members a $5,000 Student Achievment Grant for a project called, “Exploring Ceramics Across Cultures.”
classroom into a digital learning environment so that her students can immerse themselves in various cultures and gain deeper levels of knowledge and fluency. Elkhorn Elementary School teacher Rebecca Cunningham and librarian Carolyn Lynch, both members of Franklin County EA, also received a Student Achievement Grant worth $5,000 for their project, “Exploring Ceramics across Cultures.” To increase global learning through making art, first through fifth grade students will explore the use of ceramics across multiple cultures.
Cunningham and Lynch will engage students in a year-long investigation of how and why ceramics are created around the world, while learning and applying hands-on skills in the making of ceramics. The project will culminate in a school-wide exhibit of original ceramic artwork created by students and staff, showcasing the variety of cultures the students examined throughout the year. Cunningham told KEA News, “This NEA Foundation grant is tremendous. When it comes to my project in art I felt like I needed to find a means of support that wasn’t just driven by what our school could bring together.” She added, “Finding an outside source of resources was a huge thing and I am just so thankful that the NEA Foundation had that available.” Cunningham said she “really didn’t know anything about the Foundation” when she started looking around for funding sources but, “I’m a member of KEA and NEA and I thought, ‘why not start with an organization that I am already a member of?’” The deadline to apply for the next round of Student Achievment and Learning & Leadership grants from the NEA Foundation is October 15. Student Acheivement Grants of $2,000 and $5,000 are available. Learning & Leadership grants are availalbe at $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. All $5,000 group grant applicants must include partner information. To learn more, go to neafoundation.org and click on “Grants to educators.”
Global Learning Fellowships help NEA members prepare their students for the “global age” The NEA Foundation recognizes that in order for students to prepare for the into core instruction; online resource guides and webinars on country-specific global age, the educator must first be equipped with the knowledge, skills and concepts; a two-day fall professional development workshop; and a nine-day disposition needed to teach in the global age. By participating in the Global summer international field study. Learning Fellowship program, educators have an opportunity to lead the Alicia Pahl-Cornelius, who teaches at Lassiter Middle School in Jefferson County, profession by acquiring the necessary skills to is one of 48 Global Learning Fellows for 2018. She integrate global competence into their daily traveled to Washington, D.C. in August for her fall classroom instruction, advance pedagogy in their professional development workshop. She and the school/district, prepare students to thrive in the other Fellows will travel to South Africa next July global age, and thus contribute to the closing of the for their field study. global achievement gap. Pahl-Cornelius told KEA News, “I am honored and The NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship humbled to be chosen as a 2018 National Education offers educators 12 months of professional Association Foundation Global Leaning Fellow. As an development opportunities to support educators as educator, I feel it is my duty to expose my students to they cultivate global competence skills and build global issues concerning the environment and help global lesson plans that are shared with educators them to be citizens of the world. around the world. “Through collaboration with the NEA Foundation Over the course of one year, Fellows are and the 2018 class of fellows, my goal is to enrich supported by the NEA Foundation staff, partners, my own global competency so that I can give my Alicia Pahl-Cornelius teaches at Lassiter and other field experts, as they work through online Middle School in Jefferson County. She is one students the tools they need to be responsible the NEA Foundation’s 48 Global Learning coursework on effectively integrating global content of consumers, voters, and participants in society.” Fellows for 2018. Kentucky Education Association
September 2017
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Issue No. 1
3 KEA local leaders must submit results of their delegate elections for 2018 Delegate Assembly to KEA by November 30, 2017 The annual KEA Delegate Assembly is the association’s highest decision-making authority. More than 600 KEA members elected by their colleagues gather in Louisville for three days each year to elect KEA’s state leaders, set our legislative agenda, approve our operating budget for the coming year, and make association policy through discussion and debate of new business items. The 146th KEA Delegate Assembly will convene April 4-6, 2018, at the Marriott
Louisville Downtown Hotel. Delegates to DA 146 will elect a new NEA Director and two Ethnic Minority Directors-at-Large. Local associations should be holding (or scheduling) their delegate elections now. Names of delegates to the 2018 DA must be submitted by November 30 to Valerie Leathers at KEA headquarters in Frankfort. If you have questions about the delegate election or reporting process, please contact Valerie Leathers, at valerie.leathers@kea.org
KEA locals must nominate members for Teacher, ESP of the year by February 16 Each year at the Delegate Assembly KEA honors two members for excellence in their professions and as KEA leaders. Each KEA local is entitled to nominate one member each for the KEA Teacher of the Year and ESP of the Year awards.
The KEA Award for Teaching Excellence The KEA Award for Teaching Excellence, which is presented each year at the KEA Delegate Assembly, recognizes, rewards, and promotes excellence in teaching and advocacy for the profession. The award is presented to a member of KEA who has been nominated by her or his local association. In addition to the $1,000 cash award, the winner automatically is nominated for the Horace Mann-NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, which will be awarded in February 2019 at the NEA Foundation Gala in Washington, D.C. All current active, certified members of KEA are eligible, including higher education faculty and staff. Each KEA local affiliate may submit one nomination per year. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, February 16, 2018. You can find more information about the award, including the nomination form and details about how your local can nominate someone, at KEA.org, under the “Members” tab.
The KEA ESP of the Year Award The KEA Education Support Professional of the Year Award recognizes the contributions of education support professionals to their schools, their communities and their professions. The award is presented each year at the KEA Delegate Assembly to a member of KEA who demonstrates outstanding accomplishments and reflects the contributions of ESP to public education. In addition to the $1,000 cash award, the winner automatically will be nominated for the NEA ESP of the Year Award to be presented in March 2019. To be eligible, the nominee must be an education support professional who is a current member of KEA and who has been a member for three years as of January 15, 2018. The deadline to submit nominations for the award to be presented at the 2018 Delegate Assembly is Wednesday February 16, 2018. More information, including the nomination form and instructions, is available at KEA.org, under the “Members” tab.
Apply now for atheltics grants and other awards available from California Casualty Insurance California Casualty, which has partnered with KEA to provide auto and home insurance to members since 1994, provided an additional benefit last year to members and their students at Lexington Traditional Magnet School and Moore Traditional School in Jefferson County. Each of those schools received $1,000 for their sports programs through the California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grants. LTMS used the money to purchase practice uniforms for September 2017
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their girls’ basketball teams, and Moore purchased uniforms for their girls’ and boys’ soccer teams. If this benefit of KEA membership could be valuable to you and your students, you may apply online for a 2017-2018 athletics grant at calcasathleticsgrant.com. Applications must be submitted by January 15, 2018. While you are there, check out these other programs that are designed
Issue No. 1
to give back to member educators for their hard work, including: • The Promise to Drive Focused, for a chance to win a new Ford Focus (information is available at www. DriveSafePromise.com); • $2,500 Academic Awards (www. calcasacademicaward.com); and • $200 Help Your Classroom grants (www.calcas.com/help-yourclassroom). Kentucky Education Association
68%
61%
Pension
CERS
59%
Insurance
26%
Total
KERS/SPRS
22%
43%
County Clerk
Kentucky
Possible Scenarios
Possible Scenarios
Under Current Law
Under Current Law
After Separation
After Separation
WHAT CERS SEPARATION WOULD MEAN
Adapted from a publication of the Kentucky League of Cities, with their kind permission.
This separation will ensure that the needs of CERS contributors will be met and will help CERS continue on its current path of growth for years to come while also allowing our legislators to focus their energy on fixing the very real problems within KRS.
The coalition of members below supports the long-term stability of CERS by separating CERS from the Kentucky Retirement Systems and providing for new governance of CERS.
CERS STABILITY IS SUPPORTED BY...
20%
40%
60%
80%
HELPING CERS CONTINUE TO GROW
According to the asset liability study performed by R.V. Kuhns, Inc., the Kentucky Employees Retirement Systems is set to undergo financial hurdles of “persistent funding shortfalls, elevated contribution levels, unsustainable payout ratios and in the worst-case scenario, the potential for the complete depletion of the asset base.”
The chart below shows CERS funded over 61% while KERS is funded well below 30%. Separating CERS from KRS will help ensure the long-term solvency of CERS.
Funded Ratio of CERS and KERS/SPRS in FY 2015:
Unlike the upward mobility that CERS displays, the Kentucky Employees Retirement Systems (KERS) has had a decrease in its funding ratio. KRS admin expenses increased 245% from FY 2000-2016. At this stage, KERS is the worst-funded system in the country.
The County Employees Retirement System (CERS) has seen its funding ratio increase and its employer contributions decrease since the passing of Senate Bill 2 in 2013. In fact, actuaries say CERS will be fully funded by 2043.
CERS pays nearly 63% of the admin expenditures for the Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS). This includes covering expenses separate from CERS including lawsuits filed, salaries of employees, fees and administrative costs.
STABILIZING CERS PENSIONS
KEA Supports the separation of CERS from the Kentucky Retirement Systems to ensure our Education Support Professionals have the benefits they contributed to and were promised. #freeCERS
The FACTS about separating CERS from KRS
13,500 out of 42,000 teachers in the state of KY are eligible to retire today. Average age at retirement is 59. Less than 5% retire before age 50. Four times as many people retire at age 65 and over than do those under age 50. Average career teacher who retires in FY 2017 worked more than 30 years.
FY 2017 gross rate of return is 15.36% (minus fees the return is around 15%). TRS FY 2017 return is in the top 7% in the nation. TRS is a long-term investor. Over the last 30 years, TRS returns are 8%, well above its 7.5% assumed rate of return TRS pays among the lowest investments fees in the nation. TRS has never invested in hedge funds. TRS has never used placement agents, and disqualifies investment managers who try to get business with TRS by using placement agents.
Data provided to KEA by TRS Kentucky.
For more information about what you can do to help preserve the pensions of Kentucky’s public school teachers and education support professionals, talk to the KEA representative in your building or contact the KEA office nearest you. There is more information about Kentucky’s public pensions—along with contact information for KEA leaders and staff across the Commonwealth—on the KEA website, at www.KEA.org.
• The average TRS pension is $37,000 per year. By comparison the average Kentucky teacher’s salary for 2016-2017 was $52,812. • 58% of retirees receive $40,000 or less per year from TRS. • 90% of retirees receive $60,000 or less per year from TRS. • The number of retirees receiving more than $100,000 is less than 1%. These individuals worked high-paying jobs and averaged careers of between 35-47 years.. • TRS is a Social Security replacement plan because by law, Kentucky teachers cannot participate in Social Security. The average Kentuckian receives about $16,000 a year from Social Security in addition to any other retirement income they may have.
Retiree Pension Facts
• 85% of return-to-work accounts in FY 2017 were refunded, while 15% qualified for a benefit. • Historically, more than 90% of return-to-work accounts are refunded, and only about 4% earned a benefit. • Restrictions incentivize a teacher to stay active in the first account rather than retire and return. • More than 90% of teachers returning to work go back as a substitute at less than a starting teacher’s pay and fill a vital need for school districts.
Actuarially Beneficial Return-to-Work Rules
• TRS costs the Commonwealth less than the combination of Social Security and the hybrid plan other state workers get. • Every $1 of pension benefits returns approximately $1.43 back to local economies. • 89% of Kentucky retirees stay in Kentucky and spend their pension dollars in the state.
Defined Benefit Pensions are Good for the Economy
#apensionisapromise
• TRS is an important tool school districts use to attract and retain qualified teachers. • TRS is an important part of a teacher’s total compensation that offsets lower up-front salaries. • TRS improves the education of our children by keeping teachers in the classroom longer, particularly once the educator has vested.
Vital Part of Education
• • • • • • •
Investment Returns
• • • • •
Teacher’s Retirement Age
• Retirement allowances calculated on an average of members’ 3 highest salaries if the member is at least 55 years of age and has at least 27 years of service. [KRS 161.220(9)] • Post-retirement re-employment provisions. [KRS 161.605((1)-(8)] • Retirement benefits for members providing part-time or substitute teaching services. [KRS 161.612] • Retired teachers’ health insurance: only access to group coverage is guaranteed, not payment of coverage. [KRS 161.675] • Sick leave payments used for retirement calculation purposes. [KRS 161.155(10)]
The inviolable contract is a state law [KRS 61.692] that prohibits state employees’ retirement benefits from being reduced, altered, amended or repealed. For TRS participants, there are five current benefits not included in the inviolable contract:
The Inviolable Contract: What’s in and what’s out?
The FACTS about Teachers’ Retirement System Kentucky
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Heads up, new National Board candidates!
KEA is giving you two more chances this year to take advantage of our NBCT Jump Start training KEA’s National Board Jump Start is a two-and-a-half-day seminar that provides early support to National Board candidates to help them understand and be successful in the certification process. Jump Start is intended to compliment yearlong candidate support provided by university, co-op and district programs and is led by an experienced team of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs). The registration fee is $200 for KEA members and $500 for non-members, and includes lunch, all-day beverage service and snacks each day. Candidates are responsible for their own travel, lodging, and substitute costs, if applicable. Jump Start participants should be
registered with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) before the start of the seminar they attend. Because this is a KEAsponsored event, priority access will be given to KEA members who are officially registered with NBPTS. Contact NBPTS (www.nbpts.org) to pay the initial $75 fee and obtain a National Board ID number. Once you have done that you can register for Jump Start by going to www.KEA.org. Click on the “Professional Growth” tab to get to the section on National Board Certification. Each Jump Start session is limited to thirty (30) candidates. When you register for the training you will receive instructions by email about what training materials you should
bring with you each day. If you receive a message that the session is full, and you wish to be placed on the Jump Start waiting list or notified of other Jump Start sessions, please notify KEA by email to michelle.new@kea.org.
KEA’s regional KTIP training seminars begin this month KEA will conduct twelve regional training seminars on the Kentucky Teacher Intern Program in September and October, beginning September 12 at the Clarion Hotel Conference Center in Lexington. KEA’s KTIP training is designed for interns and their resource teachers to attend together, so that they may make a plan for the coming school year. If both the intern and resource teacher attend the training, the Education Professional Standards Board will allow you to count it as two (2) “outside classroom” hours. This training is free to KEA members. Non-members (interns as well as resource teachers) may attend for $50 each. To register, contact the KEA office that is hosting the session that you would like to attend. Space is limited, so don’t delay.
Kentucky Education Association
September 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 1
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September 2017
Volume 54
Issue No. 1
Kentucky Education Association
-Kimberly Ludwig, teacher, Bullitt Central High School, speaking at a Kentucky Public Pension Coalition news conference held August 22 at the State Capitol Annex
“The Teachers Retirement System of Kentucky is underfunded. It’s widely known that this is due to one main factor: for years, our state lawmakers have not made proper payments into the system. My fellow educators and other public employees have paid into the system their entire careers, while the government did not hold up their end of the bargain and pay their fair share. “Year after year, payments into the state pension fund were ignored, paid partially, or deferred to other years. Now, our pension system is underfunded and the Governor and other lawmakers want to put their bad decision making on my back and on the backs of Kentucky’s future public employees – this is simply unacceptable.”
#apensionisapromise
www. KEA .org
Kentucky Education Association 401 Capitol Avenue Frankfort, KY 40601
Address service requested
Periodical Mail-Time Sensitive These KEA members joined a large group of police, firefighters and other Kentucky public employees and retirees representing groups belonging to the Kentucky Public Pension Coalition for an August 22 news conference at the Kentucky Capitol Annex on the importance of preserving the Commonwealth’s public pension systems. In the front row (left to right) are: KEA-Retired members Pamela Mitchell and Janet Cartmell; Jessica Hiler, President of Fayette County EA; and Eddie Campbell, Vice President of KEA; In the back row (also left to right): Brent McKim, President of JCTA; KEA President Stephanie Winkler; Margaret and Fred Tilsley of KEA-Retired; Kim Ludwig, President of Bullitt County EA; KEA-Retired member Charles Ludwig; and Tom Denton, President of KEA-Retired.
September 2017 www.KEA.org Volume 54 Issue 1
Ke n t u c k y E d u c a t i o n A s s o c i a t i o n